McNicholas family of Danganmore nr Ballavary, Co.Mayo

I can give you some general info about the McNicholas family in that area.  I have a number of McNicholas relatives from Bohola and Killedan (Kiltimagh) parishes, but none that I know of from Keelogues, though it isn't far away.  The McNicholas surname (Mac Nicoláis in Irish) is of Norman origin.  It was assumed by a thoroughly Gaelicized branch of the Burke (de Burgo) family.  It is believed to have originated in Ulster (in County Tyrone), but many Ulster families took refuge in Mayo after the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th Century, so it may have come to Mayo then.

Thank you to both Roger & Kevin.

I found a pension application for James McNicholas 1841 / 1851 Census Search Forms (nationalarchives.ie) which shows that Bartley and Anne/Annie also had a son, Patrick. It's strange though considering the date you mention, Roger. He would have been born after the 1851 census was taken plus he is not listed as the youngest. I'll keep digging.

My other clue from my father was Richard McNicholas of Carranteane, where my dad grew up, who he understood to be a distant relative. Richard died in 1949 which my dad remembers well leaving a wife and young family. My dad remembers Richard's aunt known as Ellen Jim Dominick died just weeks before Richard. Her name helped immensely in finding her records, her father being Jim/James and his father Dominick. Richard's father was another James McNicholas b.1875. James & Ellen had a further 6 siblings, though one child did not survive to adulthood.Their parents were James McNicholas & Mary Kilgallon, married in 1871. Dominick McNicholas was listed as James father and he died on 10th March 1883, age 80, in Carranteane. I've yet to find a link though between the McNicholas' family of Danganmore and Carranteane. No names/dates match up. I was wondering if you,Kevin, might be able to help me with that having a number of McNicholas relatives in the area.

I would still like to understand why James McNicholas of Danganmore was known as Pat the Tailor as my dad & aunt are convinced he was called Pat despite their mother's marriage record saying her father was called James. Maybe this will be forever a mystery. 

Thanks again for your help.

Thank you to both Roger & Kevin.

I found a pension application for James McNicholas 1841 / 1851 Census Search Forms (nationalarchives.ie) which shows that Bartley and Anne/Annie also had a son, Patrick. It's strange though considering the date you mention, Roger. He would have been born after the 1851 census was taken plus he is not listed as the youngest. I'll keep digging.

My other clue from my father was Richard McNicholas of Carranteane, where my dad grew up, who he understood to be a distant relative. Richard died in 1949 which my dad remembers well leaving a wife and young family. My dad remembers Richard's aunt known as Ellen Jim Dominick died just weeks before Richard. Her name helped immensely in finding her records, her father being Jim/James and his father Dominick. Richard's father was another James McNicholas b.1875. James & Ellen had a further 6 siblings, though one child did not survive to adulthood.Their parents were James McNicholas & Mary Kilgallon, married in 1871. Dominick McNicholas was listed as James father and he died on 10th March 1883, age 80, in Carranteane. I've yet to find a link though between the McNicholas' family of Danganmore and Carranteane. No names/dates match up. I was wondering if you,Kevin, might be able to help me with that having a number of McNicholas relatives in the area.

I would still like to understand why James McNicholas of Danganmore was known as Pat the Tailor as my dad & aunt are convinced he was called Pat despite their mother's marriage record saying her father was called James. Maybe this will be forever a mystery. 

Thanks again for your help.

Thank you to both Roger & Kevin.

I found a pension application for James McNicholas 1841 / 1851 Census Search Forms (nationalarchives.ie) which shows that Bartley and Anne/Annie also had a son, Patrick. It's strange though considering the date you mention, Roger. He would have been born after the 1851 census was taken plus he is not listed as the youngest. I'll keep digging.

My other clue from my father was Richard McNicholas of Carranteane, where my dad grew up, who he understood to be a distant relative. Richard died in 1949 which my dad remembers well leaving a wife and young family. My dad remembers Richard's aunt known as Ellen Jim Dominick died just weeks before Richard. Her name helped immensely in finding her records, her father being Jim/James and his father Dominick. Richard's father was another James McNicholas b.1875. James & Ellen had a further 6 siblings, though one child did not survive to adulthood.Their parents were James McNicholas & Mary Kilgallon, married in 1871. Dominick McNicholas was listed as James father and he died on 10th March 1883, age 80, in Carranteane. I've yet to find a link though between the McNicholas' family of Danganmore and Carranteane. No names/dates match up. I was wondering if you,Kevin, might be able to help me with that having a number of McNicholas relatives in the area.

I would still like to understand why James McNicholas of Danganmore was known as Pat the Tailor as my dad & aunt are convinced he was called Pat despite their mother's marriage record saying her father was called James. Maybe this will be forever a mystery. 

Thanks again for your help.

My apologies but the post button appeared not to be working and now it's posted my reply three times. Not sure how to delete the other two.

Carranteane is a variant way of writing Carrownteeaun, so if your Dad grew up there, you and I are undoubtedly related, because that's the townland where my grandfather, James Peter Gallagher, grew up (he was born there one year after your James McNicholas died in 1883).

My Gallagher's (in both Carrownteeaun and Comderry) married a number of McNicholas's in the 19th century.  One of my grandfather's aunts was a McNicholas, as was one of his sisters-in-law (on his wife's side), and so were several cousins of his father, Peter Gallagher).  I can't prove it on paper, but I suspect that my Gallagher branch moved to Carrownteeaun from Comderry as a result of a marriage with a McNicholas, and if so that would mean that my great-grandfather Peter's mother (whose name I don't know) was a-McNicholas from Carrownteeaun.  The Carrownteeaun area McNicholas's also had family just across the parish boundary to the north in Bohola parish (especially in the townland of Altbaun).

With respect to my great-grandfather. Peter Gallager, and his three (known) siblings, about one-third of their children had at least one McNicholas as a baptismal sponsor, so the intertwined Gallagher-McNicholas familial relationship in and around Carrownteeaun (and later in St. Louis and New York) is pretty significant.

Several Kilgallon's also acted as sponsors at baptisms in my family, including one who I asssume was the Mary Kilgallon whom you mentioned, so I suspect that they are also cousins of some kind.  The James McNicholas and Mary Kilgallon whom you mentioned had a daughter named Bridget who was born in Carrownteeaun in 1873, who I suspect was a second cousin of my grandfather.

The Cuillalea-Comderry-Carrownteeaun connection among the Gallagher's, McNicholas's and Kilgallon's also seems very likely.   There was a Thady Gallagher in Comderry, probably a second cousin of my great-grandfather, who married a Catherine McNicholas in 1865, and I think that Mary Kilgallon was once again a sponsor at the baptism of one of their children (her surname is hard to read in the register).

If youve done DNA testing, we might compare results.  My results are posted at GEDMATCH, and my kit number is T780556.

Thanks Kevin for the extra information.

I've not done DNA testing so that match may be for another time. However after you mentioning Gallagher I spoke to my Dad and I also checked on FamilySearch which you recommended before.

Both my parents reminded me that Dad's mother would go into Kiltimagh with a Mrs Gallagher but my Dad is convinced they were not related either directly or through her husband. This Mrs Gallagher would definitely be your relative though. Her husband, Patrick, was your grandfather's first cousin. I will share more on FamilySearch.

Like you though I have my suspicions now.  I think the mother of my James Nicholas, Anna McNicholas, who married Bartley McNicholas, was from Kiltigh are and possibly a sibling of Dominick McNicholas, th grandfather of Bridget, Ellen & James etc.

Thanks again for your help. 

Thanks for the added info, and what you also explained at FamilySearch.  I responded to your message there as well, and I've added the info you provided to the Family Search records, showing the connection between my branch and that Patrick Gallagher.  I still suspect that we are connected through the McNicholas's somehow, though perhaps another generation or two back.

Take Care!

-- Kevin.